Conventionally, many products are packaged in plastic wrappers, some in shrink film. In the past, such wrappers have not been air and moisture proof, and during packaging, storage and display, over time, air and moisture can penetrate the wrapper and contact the product within, causing spoilage of spoilable products such as meat, fish and poultry due to oxidation and bacterial action. In some cases, such as packaging fresh meat, the package may be oxygen flushed to preserve color, and in other cases flushed with other gases such as nitrogen.
Such wrappers, however, despite being permeable, are physically strong and tough, and are time consuming to open, often requiring the use of cutting implements. Accordingly, two problems have existed with regard to such packages, first, the use of non-spoilage retarding air and moisture permeable wrapping materials, and second, consumer inconvenience because of the difficulty of opening such packages.
The first problem has been effectively solved by a new, non-permeable, shrink film, made by Sealed Air Inc. and marketed as Cryovac BDF film. Unfortunately, this improved film is even stronger and tougher than the previously used films, and has materially worsened the already bad package opening problem. Prior attempts to solve the opening problem for packages wrapped in this new film, as well as for the previously existing wrapper films, have not been successful, because such attempts have not been able to maintain the non-permeability barrier, thus negating the value of these packaging films.